Back Again

wow! long time, no blogging. blame it on family crises, christmas and the job. speaking of christmas, my newest pressie from Lissa was a skein of Cascade Handpainted fingering yarn in Londonderry colourway. my beloved aurora borealis colours, brighter yet still the deep-toned shades. i THINK i will do Veronique Avery's Lace Ribbon Scarf. saw one in the same yarn, different colours on the Ravelry yarn pages. it, too, was a darker colour and i liked it. AND i can do it, lol. pattern is now scrunchable scarf!

not been hooping too much. i am more of a tropical weather type person and it has been COLD here. and don't tell me it is much colder in other parts of the country, 'cause i think 70 degrees F is rather chilly. but, oh, man, there is a hoop i sooooo want! it is called ~She Works Hard For The Money~ from Hoopnotica.com, of course, and is my fav green colour AND it glows in the dark. 'nuff said! now to hoard the money for it whilst also hoarding money for more Sundara yarn...oh yeah, and paying the bills ~shakes head~ soon, i hope. still stuck between the 43" and 39" sizes but atm i work better with the smaller hoop. thank all the gods that the traveling hoop can be adjusted to either size.

anyway, short post just to let people know i am still alive. finishing laundry so i can dry it and go to bed for work tonight.

k~

hooping?

from my twitter ~HOOOP!!!! shiny and blue Hoopnotica Fitness TravelHoop. uh, i can actually hoop with it, but methinks me gotta grow up to use all 6 sections~ http://www.hoopnotica.com/index.php?cPath=3 ~ copy and paste cause i cannot get it to link!!

yes, i got a hoop. my niece is a bad influence...made me start knitting again and had so much fun and peace with her hoop, i thought i might try that. said hoop arrived, was put together at the 39" size {also comes in 43". being on the short side, i choose the fitness hoop, since it encompassed both sizes ~ damn good thing, too, cause if i only had the 43" hoop i might just make a trip to texas to hit someone over the head with it...in the hoop tote! i would then give it to her but, still.....}

so, trial runs. being somewhat ambidextrous, i had to work out which side was dominate. i still have no clue but spinning to the left works. spinning about 5 rounds or so and then ... i dunno, i just lose it. down to the hips and then i manage to grab it before it lands. so. much practice. at least i am down to a 50 hour work week, so that does give me a bit more time to play.

i wanted to try this to tone up. i am ... older ... and the mirror shows flab! i don't WANT to be old and flabby. old i am gonna be no matter what, but FLABBY? thus, a solution was in order. hooping seems to fit the bill. well, eventually, when i actually learn to hoop.

knitting and hooping.....yeah, that pretty much describes my ocd/add.

~a little pick me up~

i generally try to stay up long enough for the mail to come - which can be anytime from 11:30 am to 2:30 pm - just because, lol. monday was no different, but i had decided to hit the bed early. i had stayed over at work for about 2 hours and i was t i r e d! i knew it was early but i checked anyway. oooooo, a package sitting there staring at me. hmmmm, from lissa, and squooshy. once i finally got INTO the package, i do believe i learned to squee. and that was even before i saw the BIG blocks of hershey's special dark chocolate {my favorite!!} and green & black's organic dark chocolate {my gods, it is dark and delish!} because what first fell into my hands was a skein of Dream In Color Smooshy Sock Yarn. i looked, i squoooshed and then a squee emerged. i didn't think i had that in me! but if i am gonna begin squeeing, this was the perfect item to start with. her card said she thought i would like a little pick me up. it did do that.

i stopped fondling long enough to look at the name of this gorgeous yarn and discovered i was holding a skein of Dusky Aurora. Lissa is an ENABLER! i got back into knitting when lissa turned me on to Sundara Yarns {and told me i could knit my own hogwarts scarf ~sniff~} and that is what i buy, almost exclusively. Lissa tries to broaden my yarn outlook and will send me skeins of some of her favorites. i frequently put up background Webshots of the Aurora Borealis because it is colourful and fascinating and i just like night shots - NASA, northern light night shots, even just starscapes. hell, lol, look at the colours i use here! so imagine the borealis in muted shades and you are close to what i was holding, fondling, even snuggling with a bit. of course, i HAD to start looking for patterns. i don't do socks yet. chicken of me, i know but, there ya have it. sock phobia. i do have two yarns i am saving for when i get enough courage to do socks {another lissa gift, MadTosh Sock in Ink and my Sundara Sock in Candied Violets LE,} but it isn't happening at this moment. i wanted a pattern that would showcase the colours and i also wanted it to fit my impression of the Aurora Borealis. Anne Hanson's Tudor Grace was the first pattern i picked, but it wasn't quite what i was looking for, even though i do plan to eventually make it. then i hit my OceanWind Knits patterns and i saw Waving and that was it. with the staggered yarn overs it flows, rather like the Borealis. i think i have enough yarn that i can increase the repeats to make a 12 inch wide scarf that should still be almost as long as i am tall {ok, we all know that doesn't take much. about the only things shorter than me....besides my sis, hehe... are small children and pets. ~sighs~ lissa started looking down at me when she was 12}.

if i didn't have to work tonight, i would be winding and casting on NOW! i had to make myself bag the yarn and put it close to me so i wouldn't start winding and at least swatching yesterday or i would have had no sleep for work last night. tonight is my friday so ~grins~ i have wednesday and thursday to play with it. my ~weekend~ is spoken for. yarn love, fuck the housework! and if this pattern doesn't do what i want, i think i will try Saccade's Red Skies at Night from Ravelry.

just in case i have not mentioned it, i think i have the bestest niece in the world. and she has the coolest blog, so if ya wanna, check the link on Swampwater Debutante or lissa_angeline on Twitter. {if i weren't so tech illiterate, i would link her here, but, well, i am, so this is the best i can do.}

Theodore Edward Bear

My Teddy Bear

1/17/1999-3/7/2009

One dark and stormy night...well, it was!...Theodore Edward Bear was born and fell right into my hands. After he was cleaned up, i was holding a tiny, fawn-coloured puff of fur with a white cross right in the middle of his face. i really wasn't ready for another dog. It was too soon after YoYo and Knothead. But when I heard he would be going to the pound, I had to take him.

Teddy Bear was, as near as we could tell, a chow-corgi mix. he looked like a one foot tall collie with hair 11 inches long. His dad was a golden chow and Teddy Bear had his colouring and the chow undercoat. Can we say hair mats? His underbelly fur was pure white with translucent hairs mixed in and silky soft. He loved tummy rubs, and I loved giving them to him. Why yes, he did prefer to live outside, in the dirt under the house. Yes, it was almost impossible to bathe him, but he preferred his dirt dry.

Wednesday, he was pulling me down the street during his walk. Thursday, he just went a short way before heading home. Friday, he walked across the street, then came into the yard and lay down. I put his water bowl under the house, closer to him, and worried about him all night at work. This morning, when I came in from work, I checked on him. Hardly any water was gone, and his gooshy food was untouched. We went to the Vet.

After the check-up and a heartworm test, the doctor said the best he could do was make him feel better, sort of, for a couple of weeks. The dog who would chase leaves until he caught 'em and they couldn't run away anymore? The dog who thought he should be able to climb the trees and get the squirrels, or wished he could fly so he could catch the birds? Live a few weeks longer, unable to do those things? He was snuggling in my arms, looking sad, so tired, so lethargic. He looked at me with love and trust in his eyes. His kidneys were failing, he was losing control of his bowels. With tears running down my face, I signed the paper. I held him as he crossed to the summerlands and I am still crying.

I miss my puppy

christmas? next week? ~knitting frenzy~

trying to finish up some christmas knits. looks like our two new mademoiselles shall be the only ones to get their pressies in time for the actual day. well, except for my niece - she has her's cause she is super easy to buy for. just send her some Sundara yarn! and apparently a humongous jar of Bacos? speaking of Sundara yarn, my new *season's sub/winter* just came in the mail today, and i cannot stop the touchy-feely that Sundara's yarns invite. {another reason for late pressies ~guilt-somewhat~ well, that and my totally unrealistic ideas of time management.}

and i have three days to complete the main part of my knitting cause from friday on, i shall be working every night until the day after new year's. at ten hours a shift, and the holiday traffic, i will be pretty much dead and looking for the bed to die in when i get home, and not much but sleep gets accomplished when i find that bed.

~wanders back out to continue the knitting frenzy~

a quick note

things are rather ragged here at the moment, but i wanted to give anyone that checks here a heads up. i have added a button, just under the profile, that will take you to The Seaman's Church Institute blog. if you knit or crochet, this is an excellent charityknit. it is not too late, even now, to contribute for this christmas. as noted on the blog:

Finished garments should be sent throughout the year to Christmas-at-Sea, 241 Water Street, New York, NY 10038. Please be sure to include your name and address within the package so we can acknowledge its receipt.

Gift packing begins not long after Labor Day and continues right up until Christmas. While we receive donations January through December, it is most helpful to us to receive your donations in the fall.

the patterns are available from the website. the helmets have been a special request from the seamen and it was noted that caps are also in demand. if you do not knit, there is a *list of small items that are needed*, and monetary donations are welcome.

edited to add list:
In the presents given to mariners, containing a handknitted scarf and hat, SCI wants to fill the box with other useful items to the mariner. These items include

· Unscented, Hypoallergenic Hand Lotion (2-4oz bottles)

· Unscented, Colorless Lip Balm,

· Sealed Packages of Holiday Sweets,

· Books or Activities like Sudoku, word searches & playing cards,

· Microwave Popcorn, and

· Sugarless Chewing Gum.

These are items that you and I can likely pick up at the local supermarket; but mariners, working long stretches away from shore and their community, find it difficult to obtain these common, practical things. For complete information, including a downloadable brochure on the Gift Drive, go to www.seamenschurch.org/726.asp.
thanks

Yes, I am still here

just in the middle of changing jobs, some housecleaning to find real clothes...well, you know, office clothes. looks like i might actually get a real job again. bad news, daylight times; good news, much more money. enough to make me daylight functional. now to survive the lapse between the two. shouldn't have been, but the delay occurred at the last minute, AFTER my last day at the waffle house. ~sighs~

later